Sarah DiGregorio's Top 10: No. 5 New York 2010 - Maialino

The namesake suckling pig at Danny Meyer's new Roman restaurant, Maialino, looks exactly like a huge sheet of fried dough, bubbly-topped and golden, with only the tiny ribs emerging from one side reminding you of its animal origin. The roast is presented to the table before it gets ferried back to the kitchen to be sliced and plated with potatoes limpid with pork fat. It's a simple meal—the only discernible seasonings are salt, pepper, and rosemary—yet it's wonderful, one of the best roast pigs in the city, with lush meat hiding under blowsy white fat and skin so crisp you can hear people crunching it across the room.